Waynesboro’s “ONE Waynesboro” Initiative Draws Questions After Black Leader’s Similar Plan Was Ignored
- Sam Orlando
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Written by: Sam Orlando
When Dewan Bellamy stood before the Waynesboro City Council on October 15, he didn’t come to protest. He came with a plan.
In a detailed proposal titled the Community Homeless Youth Initiative (CHYI), the deputy chairman of the Black Panther Party of Augusta County laid out a one-year strategy to reduce youth and family homelessness by 90 percent. His plan identified 52 children and their families living without stable housing and called for emergency shelter, transitional housing, and wrap-around services such as counseling and job training.
“Together—with city leadership, nonprofits, and community members—we can provide stability, dignity, and hope to every family in need,” Bellamy told council members that night.
Less than two weeks later, the City of Waynesboro unveiled a new $100,000 program: ONE Waynesboro. The city announcement described it as a collaboration among five local nonprofits offering “wrap-around family case management” and “coordinated accountability.”
To Bellamy, the timing—and the language—felt unmistakable.
“We did the work. We brought them the solution,” he said. “Then they went and did it without us.”
A Plan Ignored, Then Reborn
Bellamy’s CHYI plan proposed:
Immediate emergency shelter for homeless families.
10–15 transitional housing units for up to a year.
Counseling, childcare, and job training.
A Family Stability Fund to prevent evictions.
The projected cost was $650,000 a year—modest compared to the scale of the problem.
When ONE Waynesboro launched just days after his presentation, its framework looked strikingly similar—minus Bellamy and any Black-led organizations at the table.
Who’s in ONE Waynesboro
The city’s release lists five partner nonprofits, all long-established recipients of public or faith-based funding:
Embrace Waynesboro / Embrace Centers for Community
WARM (Waynesboro Area Refuge Ministry)
HERO (Housing Enhancements, Rehabilitation & Opportunities)
Renewing Homes of Greater Augusta
Bread Basket / LifeWorks
Each provides critical services—housing repair, rental aid, food, or shelter—but none is Black-led or grassroots.
Rev. Watson Clarifies the Structure
In an email to Breaking Through News, Rev. Jenelle Watson, Executive Director of Embrace Centers for Community,** clarified that she is not a city employee and that ONE Waynesboro has no executive director or centralized leadership.
“We are five separate non-profit organizations … working more closely together to better support our community while avoiding duplication of services,” Watson wrote. “Think of [Embrace’s] Community Assistance Network as the 911 dispatch for the other ONE Waynesboro partners. We simply connect people and resources with people and resources.”
Her explanation confirms that ONE Waynesboro is not a formal city department or nonprofit, but rather a loosely coordinated coalition funded by the City’s Community Vitality Fund.
The city has not yet identified who is responsible for oversight or reporting on the use of the $100,000 in public funds.
City Silence
Breaking Through News contacted Mayor Kenny Lee, Vice Mayor Lorie Jean Akanbi, and all members of Council multiple times on Wednesday for clarification.As of publication at 9 p.m., none had responded.
Community Reaction
To many Black residents, the silence—and the partner list—underscore a pattern: community ideas get traction only after being filtered through established, predominantly white institutions.
“When you have a Black leader bring a plan, and days later a city-funded coalition launches with similar goals but without him, it sends the wrong message,” said one community organizer who attended both the council meeting and the city’s announcement.
Accountability Questions
The city’s choice of long-standing, CAPSAW-affiliated nonprofits suggests a safe, vetted coalition. But transparency advocates argue that familiarity should not replace accountability.
“If public funds are being used, residents deserve to know who is responsible for outcomes,” Bellamy said.
Breaking Through News has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the city’s correspondence, grant materials, and oversight documents related to the ONE Waynesboro funding and to Bellamy’s CHYI proposal.
What’s at Stake
For Bellamy, the issue is bigger than credit.
“It’s about who gets heard—and who gets left out when they finally act,” he said.
The city’s collaboration may deliver services, but the process left a void of trust. As Waynesboro debates how to fight homelessness, one question remains unanswered: Can a city truly unite around “One Waynesboro” if the voices who sparked the movement aren’t invited in?
Editor’s Note
The City of Waynesboro had not responded to multiple requests for comment by the 9 p.m. publication deadline. Any responses received later will be appended in an update.